Tracking and monitoring the location, movement and health of items, objects and cargo can be done in several ways. The conventional state of the art in location tracking and telemetry is based upon the tracking unit determining its health and location by executing local tasks on the tracking unit and communicating the results, either on request or independently, based on time or internal rules, through the network to the backend system.
To perform even elementary tasks and have communication capabilities requires location devices, transmitters and receivers, algorithms and/or methods to be implemented on the tracking unit, usually as a combination of hardware and software. These requirements have a negative impact as it increases the size, weight, power and cost of the tracking unit. It also continues to contribute to the unnecessary amount of data transmitted over the wireless network, again, imposing power and monetary costs of transmission. In addition, when a tracking unit is operating in an area where a home network is not available, significant additional charges may apply for connection to the available network as well as costs for transmitting data.
As an example; when tracking the health and progress of transport of cargo or items sometimes across multiple modes of transportation, the tracking units need to be small enough to be concealed within or attached to the items, they cannot rely on a clear view of the sky, nor can they rely on satellite communication capabilities (when tracking items and pallets as opposed to trucks and trailers items will be inside cargo holds and buildings). Furthermore, they must be able to operate in the field for long periods of time (preferably at least the time for a roundtrip transport plus a margin). In addition to providing geographical location, the unit(s) must also provide health information of the packages tracked, which is dependent on the actual items monitored